Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["Norma Sutton" <sweetspringfarm@gmail.com>]

A really nice cold frame, or overwintering frame can be made from bales of straw with a storm door over them.  You can grow lettuce and greens in some of the coldest climates in them.

Norma

 

On 5/15/07, TradingPostPaul <tradingpost@riseup.net> wrote:

They have those at our local Harbor Freight which we call the Toy Store. I
don't question your comparison numbers, but if it's meant to be practical
far as return on investment, there are questions. Let's keep in mind that a
12 x 10 is just about adequate for starting plants from seed for a large
home garden. But if it's for growing food directly then it isn't big enough
and it would take years at least to repay the investment.

I built an 8 x 14 for under $150, though with film and wood instead of the
poly panels and metal. It's strictly for germinating in flats and pots, and
with a small electric heater it did the job for a couple months before last
frost. It protects small potted trees like figs etc. before setting out.

The $599 12 x 10 could certainly be a good hobby greenhouse, or from a
practical standpoint it could repay the investment by growing starters for
a large garden. There are also alternatives though. Cold frames can help
get a jump on the growing season, or hot frames or even floating row
covers. There's a lot of good information on season extension in books and
websites. It means more than just having the earliest tomato. It means you
can grow two or three crops a year in the same space, depending on your
learning curve. I'm in the middle of this learning curve right now.

paul tradingpost@lobo.net


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